Cabanas El Alquimista Oaxaca

... with potatoes, carrots and green beans and the other meatballs both spicy of course and with tortillas, I have tortillas with everything now!
It was then on to Oaxaco to find some ruins.
I hit the outskirts and saw a sign for some pyramids at Zaachila which promptly dumped me in the middle of the town and left me. I eventually found the pyramids closed.
I headed back to Oaxaca and found the sign for Monte Alan which again appeared to dump me but I'd found the back ...

... i found pressed up against my chest regularly when ever pondering on what to buy which although i could have been tempted into buying i knew that it was not gonna be casual wear back in Madrid. In the end i had to set led on the thing that had caught my eye on the very first day. A thing that they call a "zarape" which is basically a large blanket that has been hand weaved and has just about as many colours in it as to make even Joseph jealous and being as it was sold to me by the ...

... the clouds of smoke. Chocolate is a big hit down here as well, being eaten regularly as a sauce to go with chicken or beef. I went out to one of Mexico's main archaeological sites out of town called Monte Alban which was very impressive. It's perched on top of a hill overlooking the city so there were great views to the valleys either side. Only spent a couple of days as I didn't find much to do and the beach was calling.

... by the Spaniards to keep the Indians "in line" and superstitious. Incidentally, a couple of hundred yards east and behind this shrine, a small church was built in the 1500's. And it was a "location" church in the film "Salsa Libre" starring Jack Black. We remembered seeing the movie with Corey and Nandita. Who knows, some day he may become a patron saint of this place. (the pronoun refers to the movie star) Time for lunch! Well ...

... being called Squirt. We then finally arrived at Teotihuacan, climbed the amazing pyramids and got shown some carvings and murals that had survived all these years, amazing stuff really. Pics will soon be ready in our mexico album on the link previously given. I was a bit scared to climb the temples, because the steps are huge and really steep - as in, once you are at the top or at a rest platform you have to walk right to the edge to see the steps begin otherwise it just looks ...

... around our food, it was simply delicious...especially for us road-weary motoclistas. As we washed the meal down with a couple of Coca-Lights, villagers began to come out of the woodwork to stare at the extraterrestrial Skeeter Eater (the bike, submitted via blog comment by imjealous!) and gawk at the extranjeros as we shooed flies from our faces and relished in our good meal. We're beginning to realize that much of the true beauty comes from the ...

... bar was so crowded though and the music was so loud you couldn't talk to one another. So I ended just going home since I have to get up and go shopping anyway! The guys stayed out though to drink more but I don't enjoy that in foreign places. So tomorrow after shopping I'm going to tidy up my room, study, and read one of my books. Alright well goodnight all! Mi dia es no muy divertido, es aburrido. Te amo mi familia y amigas!

... is like here in early November, when decorating the graves, and the celebration of life takes on an almost competitive feel. I look forward to returning to Oaxaca for that experience in the not too distant future. My new landlady, Maria Pilar, is the bomb. She could not be nicer if she tried, and is always kissing me when she sees me for the first time every day. She loves food and we joke frequently ...

... it really felt like an earthquake. Later we found out the shaking was an earthquake. As we continued along the mountainous road, up,down, one corner after another we again enjoyed fantastic scenery and the road surface was good. In the valley outside of Oaxaca the signs and the fields of aguava announced Mezcal country. The valley near Oaxaca City is the Mezcal Capital of Mexico. Getting ...

... will go back and forth telling each vendor that "Vendor #X is offering this, what can you offer?" until basically everything is as cheap as it can possibly be. It's a brilliant plan for us, those aforementioned prospective customers, but for the locals who are trying to sell their wares, it results in their barely being able to feed a family. We should feel bad about it, but we don't. The poor world is certainly poor and unfortunate, but we ...